


Days Have Passed Without You Here

by sapphire2309



Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen, Season 1 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-24 16:24:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6159550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphire2309/pseuds/sapphire2309
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Lauren went between Season 1 and 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Days Have Passed Without You Here

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Brother Sparrow by Agnes Obel. For Day 2 of halfamoon, for the prompt [Agency](http://halfamoon.livejournal.com/321192.html), Lauren Cruz and a decision she made. Still no guarantees that I'm doing all the days.  
> I would most probably have written about Sara, but I just really really wanted to write Lauren for some reason.  
>  **Disclaimer:** White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.  
> 

"Hey, Peter," Lauren says as she walks into his office.

"Lauren. Sit down."

"That sounds ominous."

"It's not much. I just want a few words. Sit."

"Sure." She sits carefully, keeping her eyes on Peter the whole time.

Peter clears his throat awkwardly. "We, uh, went over the audio from yesterday, just as a formality. Something caught my ear."

Lauren shakes her head slowly. "No idea what you're talking about."

"According to the transcript, you said to Aimes, and I quote, 'Shoot him. Then I'll have you on murder too.'"

"Ah."

"I know, that isn't unprecedented for an agent in the field, but that's not what I expect from one of my agents."

"I understand. It won't happen again." Lauren gets up to leave.

"Nothing else?"

Lauren stops at the door. "You've seen my personnel file. "

"Your military record is impressive. You know, Jones was in the Navy."

Lauren shakes her head. "It's not that." She pauses. "Can I speak freely?"

Peter nods.

"White Collar agents gamble with money, not lives. The military teaches you the exact opposite. I enlisted because if you serve, they pay part of your college tuition. And every single person on the battlefield is expendable. I know that doesn't justify my conduct in any way, but it's how I see the world."

Peter nods, understanding. "That may not make you a good fit for White Collar."

"I _know_ it doesn't."

"Then why are you still here?"

"You."

Peter hides his mortification by opening a drawer and rifling through it. Lauren continues regardless. "Your closure rate is unparalleled, even before Neal. And I may not fit into the division, but I have a lot to learn from you."

Peter nods at the drawer. "Do you plan on putting in for a transfer?"

"Yeah. Organized Crime, maybe. In about six months to a year."

"You think you'll have learned everything by then?" Peter finally looks up again.

"No. But I will have learned everything I'm likely to hold on to."

Peter smiles. "Good luck, Lauren."

"Thank you."

-:-

  
"Organized Crime?" Jones asks.

Lauren nods tiredly and continues to empty the contents of her desk into a box.

" _Organized Crime?_ "

"Yes."

"Wow. That's going to shake this place like a grenade."

"Yeah? You're an idiot."

"What? It's true."

She shakes her head. She could never have that kind of impact here. And besides, everyone's still trembling in the aftershocks of Neal's return to prison.

"Okay, forget Organized Crime. _Ruiz_? How are you going to work under him?"

"He seems worse than he is. And the rest of the crowd's pretty decent."

"Okay." Jones holds up his hands and backs away.

Lauren laughs, hefts up her box and leaves for a different floor.

She wasn't lying. Ruiz is an asshole, no doubt. But he isn't quite as bad as he makes himself out to be. And his voice doesn't do him any favours in a world that judges by face value.

He wouldn't be seen that way if he was a little nicer. But she can't fault him for not putting in the effort. She'd probably be that way if she didn't have to compensate for being a woman.

And besides, she's moving to Organized Crime for her.

She wants a spotlight. Not one she has to continually wrest away from someone else, but one that lays comfortably on her, because she's the best person in the room. Here, Neal's the firecracker of the day, every day. And she's good, but Caffrey's far out of her league and White Collar's a field she isn't entirely comfortable working in. Even if she tried to catch up to him, he'd always be fifty miles ahead, laughing his ass off.

So she's leaving.

It's one of the better decisions she's made.

-:-

  
The Lauren Cruz that walked out of White Collar isn't the same one who walks into Organized Crime every day. She isn't hiding behind ill fitting suits anymore, there's always the tiniest smile on her lips, and there's an added something to her walk that says she's doing exactly what she wants to and she's loving it.

It's not just the change of environment. The cases make sense to her in a way that White Collar never did. She could reach out a finger and find the pulse of a case - what's important, what's not, what their next move should be.

She feels... she feels like Caffrey did in White Collar.

She never wanted to work with him, she's known that since she set eyes on him. She wanted to _be_ him. And now that she is, none of it matters anymore. Her admiration of Neal isn't clouded by jealousy anymore. She's too busy being brilliant.


End file.
